Flower arranging has become a practice of meditation for me. Cut, snip, cut, place. Snip, cut, cut, place. It evokes a rhythm within me that is calming and uplifting at the same time. I just go to the Flower Market and get whatever blooms are there. This time, I decided to work with very gentle, fragile blooms. Reminds me of spring that is to come. Though since a lot of these flowers were not in season, the arrangement ended up being more expensive. (Them sweat peas ran me about $75! Lawwwwd….) It was all worth it. Use the following recipe below, but remember with this one there are no rules. Follow your own hand, and create what’s pleasing to YOUR eye. Enjoy!

I love what flowers can do to a room. Brighten, lift, and beautify, I swear they have been put on this earth to remind us how wonderful color can be in our lives. Unfortunately, it’s extremely hard to find flowers in one of my favorite colors–blue. That’s where Mother Earth gets a little help from science. A few naturally blue flowers do exist (corn flowers, hydrangeas, delphiniums), however, dyes can do wonders in bringing out the brighter blues hidden deep in nature’s closet. The website Fifty Flowers sells a variety of “Neon Tie Dye Rainbow Roses” sold here. I’ve arranged them in two arrangements. The above being a mixture of 15 Rainbow Roses and 10-12 purple anemones. I put them in a small container and set them deep inside an endiiro, a traditional Ugandan basket used for storage. See how the colors bounce and echo each other?

The other arrangement above is one of my favorite floral designs. The rose twist, created by master floral designer L’Olivier Giugni, this arrangement requires 24 roses designed in a criss-cross and spiraling pattern in a circular container with a diameter of five inches. Perfect perched on the edge of an office desk or for a party, this arrangement can last up to a week. Enjoy!

I hate bananas. But ask me if I want some banana pudding, I’ll sell my left arm. (I don’t really need it, I’m right-handed, okay never mind, I need it to play my guitar…I should sell something else…). Something about this southern concoction makes me feel at home. It conjures up a time of family gatherings and just out of the blue special times. I might be that Southern gal who eats around the bananas in her banana puddin’ (banana-less banana puddin’ is possible with banana cream JELL-O), but I appreciate this favorite southern dessert from the bottom of my heart.

Fall is baaaaack. I’m running around enjoying the last of the falling leaves. The shades of falls are vibrant indeed as I look out on the horizon and see the ombre of a million pretty deaths–from green, to marigold, burnt orange, to finally brown. Who knew death could be this beautiful? But I never think of it as a true death, just a moment of starting over, turning the page to a new chapter, and that’s why I’m taking this moment to let everyone know Katori’s Kitchen is back!! Major life changes have happened that kept me (or rather that I LET keep) from my blogging. From getting married, to a cross-country move, to a new job in a new creative medium, life has shown me that I the only thing constant is it’s changing colors. Join me for a new part of the ride.

I’m a G.R.I.T. Girl Raised in the South, and every now and again I get a craving for that good old comfort Southern food. We fry everythang and I mean EVRY’ thang. We fry twinkies, Snickers bars, pink guitars. Yes, I know all about my oils (from peanut to conola). Peanut is good for turkeys and conola is good for green tomatoes.

It’s rare to find a good friend green tomato up here in the Northeast. When I found these tomatoes in my local grocery store I couldn’t resist. And the fact that they had buttermilk, too? Awww, man. I won’t be coming home for awhile, but these will have to suffice.

INGREDIENTS

3 green tomatoes

2 cups of buttermilk

1 cups of all purpose flour

1 cup of yellow cornmeal

1 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp pepper

1tbsp salt

4 cups of canola or vegetable oil

1) Heat the oil on medium-high heat

2) Mix the flour, cornmeal, paprika and salt together

3) Slice the green tomatoes

4) Dip in buttermilk

5) Dip in mixture flour/cornmeal mixture

6) Check the oil by putting in a speck of cornmeal. It should begin to fry immediately

I love to travel, but sometimes you just can’t get to where you really want to be. It’s been 7 years since I’ve gone to Italy, and I can still remember the sautéed spinach with garlic-infused chili olive oil, the gelato, and the bread, OMG, the friggin’ bread!!! It’s true, I remember the cuisine more than I remember Michelangelo’s statue, but they both truly took my breath away. Whenever, I have a craving to get there and I can’t muster up the euros to fly out of JFK, I visit Eataly on West 23rd St and Broadway in NYC.

Eataly is the uber-lunch cafeteria. But it’s not the typical place of prepubescent school years. Soggy microwaved food served on Formica trays will not be found here. The food is fresh, fresh, fresh! What I love? The sage butternut squash gnocchi, salami and goat cheese served on specially made cutting pine cutting boards, and the wine from around the world that will make you orgasm. Seriously… Tip 1: Get to Eataly around 11:30 am so you can get a seat. It becomes a madhouse at noon. Check out the specials on the chalkboard. The fried whiting topped with calamari is my fav!

The seafood is magnificent as is the cheese. This is drive-by Italian dining the way they do it in Florence and Milan. Hands-down one of my favorite places to eat in all of NYC. Go when you can, and tell ‘em Katori sent you!

I’m a lover of unexpected fusions of flavors. When I landed upon a delightful concoction of Lavender Lemonade at Eatonville Restaurant in Washington D.C., I was hell-bent on deciphering the recipe. Unfortunately, Aretha, the waitress was not too forthcoming about all the sweet details. Never one to give up, I picked up a bag of culinary lavender at the Union Square Farmer’s Market in New York City and got to experimenting in the kitchen like a mad scientist.

Now, you can’t just pick up any old lavender from the store. No use getting those dried fragrant bundles West Elm sells to spruce up the smell of a dank room. That will have your stomach churning faster than a Texas tornado. Culinary lavender is specially cultivated and can be added into drinks and even certain meat dishes. It gives foods an outright aromatic flavor and surprisingly adds a sweetness that cuts the tartness of citrus.

Boiling the lavender will make any kitchen smell like a field in France. It makes a floral tea that turns brown in the boil.

But don’t let the look of lavender fool you. When mixed with the acid of lemon juice, the lilac leaves can turn the liquid a bright pink! The hidcote variety is the type that makes this pretty and unusual hue. Get in the kitchen pronto and get your mad scientist on.

INGREDIENTS

4 tbsp culinary lavender

2 cups of freshly squeezed lemon juice (8 lemons)

2 cups of water (for lavender tea)

1/2 cup of sugar (for tea)

8 cups of cold water

1/2 cup of sugar (to taste)

1) Squeeze lemons to make at least 2 cups of lemon juice.

2) Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Pour in the culinary lavender and 1/2 cup of sugar. Bring tea down to medium-high and boil for 10 minutes.

3) Strain the leaves out of the tea. Set aside.

4) Pour lemon juice and lavender tea together in a pitcher. Add the cold water. The hidcote variety should turn the lemonade pink.

Fedoras. Fasciniators. Berets. My collection of hats has been growing for a while now. Perhaps I was intrigued by the women who would crown their heads with the most elaborate fabric sculptures on Sunday mornings. Growing up in Memphis, I would stand at the gates of our missionary Baptist church to see the deacons’ wives march past with art balanced on their heads. They rode the wind like the women in Africa who skillfully balanced raffia baskets full of fruits and dreams on their heads. Hats. I mean, they call them fascinators for a reason. They made these women look Godly. Made their necks stretch long to balance that precarious fashion on top of able minds and even more able bodies.

As winter begins to draw its curtain, let’s give a nod to that accessory that keeps us warm and keeps us regal. Keeps us bright and keeps us posed from Saturday night lounges to Sunday morning sanctuaries.

Happy Holidays, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and a Merry Christmas to my fam all around the world! More recipes and style secrets to share in the New Year. Till then….

New York is a hustler’s town. When you have back to back meetings during the day, you end up wheeling your office right along with you.

Gotta get to Starbucks for a meeting to discuss casting, lunch at Red Rooster with a friend up in Harlem, downtown to drop off something at the accountant’s, pitch meeting there, pick up scripts here–Rippin’ and runnin’ is something us self-made artists just have to do. But on Fridays, business soon gives way to pleasure. That’s why I always wear something that can transform me from my daytime meetings to chillaxin’ time with the ladies.

A winter white blazer with leather always gets it done Have a great weekend y’all!